MURFREESBORO – Rutherford County’s request for a fourth general sessions judge could make it through the Tennessee General Assembly before the state’s governing body retires for the year later this spring, local lawmakers said.

Both state Sen. Bill Ketron and state Rep. Dawn White are confident the county’s request for a change to its Private Acts could make it through the state legislature in time for the seat to make the Aug. 4 County General Election ballot.

Ketron, a Republican from Murfreesboro, said he’ll be asking the Senate to approve the County Commission request for another General Sessions Court next week.

A former member of the County Commission in the 1990s, Ketron recalled how the commissioners appropriated money to build a jail that would include a courtroom that a proposed General Sessions Court judge will be able to use in overseeing pretrial release.

Ketron said he also expects the state to respond to jail overcrowding by transferring more inmates to a new prison in Trenton in West Tennessee.

White, R-Murfreesboro, said she expects to be introducing the General Sessions Court request before a House committee in two weeks. The full House should be able to vote on it before “we adjourn” in April, White said.

“It should not be a problem,” said White, who also supports the added General Sessions Court. “With the growth Rutherford County is experiencing, I think it’s definitely needed.”

The resolution’s language will be on the agenda at the County Commission meeting Thursday.

If the resolution is passed with a simple majority in the General Assembly, another super-majority vote is required in the commission before it can become law. Mayor Ernest Burgess said previously the best-case scenario is holding the second vote on April 14.

Burgess also said the county could put the qualifying deadline at 90 days from the Aug. 4 County General Election to allow candidates time to qualify. The new judge would serve a six-year term and run for re-election with the other General Sessions judges in 2022.

The county’s three General Sessions judges and Burgess presented information to the Rutherford County Commission Budget Committee on Thursday night outlining the plan.

According to information presented by Judges Barry Tidwell, Tobey Gilley and Ben Hall McFarlin at both the Thursday night and Feb. 22 Public Safety committee meeting, the county is behind at least one general sessions judge, who handles traffic tickets, misdemeanor criminal offenses and small-claims civil cases.

“Out of about 950 people in the jail about 450 of them haven’t been sentenced yet. … These people are costing us,” Burgess said.

Gilley said the county can save not just on jailing costs, but on manpower from transporting inmates to the courthouse for trial.

“The goal is to look back and say … the jail population has gone down,” Tidwell said.

In addition to a judge, the county would also have to fund a new assistant district attorney, public defender and staff for the judge, which would cost around $500,000 annually, Tidwell said previously.

Tidwell projected the county could save $1.3 million per year in overtime costs and the cost to house inmates awaiting trial if a fourth judge is added.

The county ranks fifth in population, but third in the number of new filings per judge, Tidwell said.

Contact Michelle Willard at 615-278-5164, on Twitter @MichWillard or Rutherford County Business News on Facebookat facebook.com/DNJBusiness.

What's next

The Rutherford County Commission will consider adding a fourth General Sessions Court judge during a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in the second-floor courtroom of the Historic County Courthouse in Murfreesboro.